Camperdown Cemetery 2005

Hidden away in the back streets of Newtown is Camperdown cemetery. This is an historic cemetery with some famous residents as well as the many humble, unknown, unremembered people whose names are not written in the books of history, but in the book of life. Many of the cemetery's residents have links with the sea, through a career in the navy, shipbuilding, sinking of ships or accidental drowning in the harbour. It was in operation for just over 20 years and in that time nearly 16,000 people were interred here, many of whom were poor and buried in unmarked graves.

Please click on an image for a larger view. There are two pages in this gallery

My thanks to Camperdown Cemetery Trust for much of the information presented here.

Camperdown Cemetery stands in a remnant of an Ironbark & Turpentine forest that once covered much of Sydney's inner west.

Eliza Emily Doonithorne lies in this grave. She lived a priviliged life in a grand house in Newtown's King Street. On her wedding day, when the table was laid and the guests were all met, she waited and waited, but the bridegroom did not arrive. Eventually the guests went home. The jilted bride became a recluse and the wedding breakfast remained on the table for close to forty years until the day she died.

If that story sounds familiar it may be that you have read Great Expectations. Charles Dickens, through his friendship with Caroline Chisholm, a neighbour of the Donnithornes, is rumored to have used this sad story as the inspiration for Miss Havisham.
The truth about Dickens using this story is unsure. Here is a link to the full story of Eliza Doonithorne. More

John Leys, a Balmain Shipbuilder, lies in an unusually marked grave.

A steel ship's propeller stands tall above the grave.

A new headstone erected recently by descendents of Robert & Sarah Gordon. The Gordons are typical of the well to do Sydneysiders buried here. Of course there are many more poor people buried in unmarked graves

The tomb of Charles Farmer.

He drowned in Sydney Harbour aged 22.

121 people perished in the disaster. Only one survived. Those who could be identified were buried separately. 22 ended up in this mass grave. The disaster touched many families in the colony.

Each year, on the Sunday closest to the 20th August a memorial service is held here and a bible recovered from the wreckage is read from.

John Steane, a passenger on the Dunbar, was said to be having an affair with Hannah Watson, the wife of Captain Watson, the Harbour Master of Port Jackson. While Steane was in England, Watson heard of their affair and cursed them both. Hannah died soon after, while Steane was returning to Sydney on the ill-fated Dunbar. It is said on dark and stormy nights, the ghost of Hannah rises to meet her lover at his tomb.

Also interred in this tomb are an unkown number of bodies from the wreck of the Catherine Adamson which sunk two months later. Twenty one people lost their lives in that tragedy.

One of the Dunbar's anchors. In 1910 Some artifacts were raised from the wrecksite area. In 1955 divers located her exact position in nine metres of water a little south of The Gap. Looting since 1955 has resulted in many valuable items disappearing into private collections. She was finally protected under the Historic Shipwreck Act in 1989.

A little further away is the tomb of Hannah Waller and her daughter Mary who also died in the Dunbar sinking.

A detail from the side of the Waller memorial.

On top of the monument is a small sculpture showing the sinking of the Dunbar.

Nicholas Bochasa was harpist to Louis XVIII of France and later Napolean. He ran away to Australia with an opera singer named Anna Bishop. Unfortunately he died after just one concert together.

On top of the tomb is a monument to Bochsa. The broken tree, which symbolises a life cut short, had a harp on it, which has been vandalised. You can still see the studs on the harp. On the right you can make out what is left of a figure portraying Anna, lamenting, and drawing us into their romance with her fervent inscription: "Mourn him ..." In her hand is a wreath.